Longshoremen join racial equality demands on Juneteenth

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Cranes and berths came to a standstill as longshoremen in ports throughout California stopped work Friday, joining thousands of Californians who marched, rallied and drove in car caravans to commemorate Juneteenth and demand racial equality.

Thousands joined workers at the Port of Oakland for a rally where some held signs that read “Stop Police Terror” and “Black Lives Matter.” Political activist and former Black Panthers Party member Angela Davis addressed the crowd.

Davis thanked the longshoremen for shutting down on “the day we celebrate the end of slavery, the day we memorialize those who offered us hope for the future and the day when we renew our commitment to the struggle for freedom.”

Longshoremen also stopped work in 28 other West Coast ports to mark Juneteenth, which is considered the oldest known celebration commemorating the emancipation of enslaved

African Americans. While the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, it could not be enforced in many places until the Civil War ended two years later. June 19, 1865, was the day Union soldiers told enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, that the war was over and they were free.

In Oakland, the thousands who attended the rally at the port then marched to downtown Oakland, where Davis and Michael Brown Sr., the father of Michael Brown Jr., an 18-year-old Black man who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, addressed the crowd.

Earlier this week, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said five ropes found hanging from trees in a city park were nooses and racially charged symbols of terror. An Oakland man said he put the ropes up months ago to use as exercise equipment.

A day later, Oakland police opened an investigation after a caller reported finding an effigy hanging from a tree at a city park.